Spoilers Ahead For:
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When I first watched YouTube creator Wifie’s first originally written horror story, “Searching for a World that Doesn’t Exist”, I was left more immersed and scared than I had been in a long time watching any piece of media. Even though it felt a bit embarrassing to be left so distraught from a Minecraft ARG (Alternate Reality Game), I was still incredibly excited for the second part of Wifie’s nicknamed “Crossroads ARG”, and for all my questions to be answered. After finishing the sequel, “Destroying a World that Doesn’t Exist,” I’ve realized that some questions are better left unanswered.
Part one of the Crossroads ARG…
Was elegantly written from beginning to end. Following the main character, d3rlord3, through a mysterious Minecraft world found by chance, the story’s uncertain atmosphere and great sound design had me and many people immersed immediately.
What had the most important impact on the immersiveness, however, was the limited scope of the medium and genre. It worked first, because the main monster is a cosmic horror beyond our comprehension.
| An Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is a multimedia genre of storytelling. Often, the game is played through the internet with the player having to navigate different web pages and apps, decode puzzles to unlock more web pages, and unravel the mystery themselves as a part of the storytelling.
The Crossroads ARG is more narrative-focused and was manufactured to be experienced through the YouTube video. Typically, Wifies finds ARGs to play and solve and turns them into analysis videos, but he made the Crossroads ARG himself. |
But the more practical reason is that the whole thing was made in Minecraft. Besides some songs and sound effects added in post, Wifie’s couldn’t have the Lovecraftian monster actually appear. So, the horror came not from what we could see, but from what we couldn’t.
The monster affected the environment, and moved discreetly when our main character’s point of view (and consequently ours because of the first-person perspective) was turned away. For the entire forty-minute run-time, this mystery built tension—the audience’s imagination running wild for what nightmare could be awaiting d3rlord3 at the end of his journey.
Thus, when he finally made it to the end, and all there was to see was a redacted box, I and the rest of the viewing community were left both terrified and intrigued, wanting answers.
Yes, the ending to part one may not have answered every question, but it left a lasting impression on the viewer, which built a lively online theory community to discuss the possibilities of what it could have been.
Then Part Two released.
And to be honest, I was excited, because I wanted my questions answered. The phrase “At the Crossroads, don’t turn left,” stuck with me, and I wanted the whole mystery to be revealed. But again, this was a misguided desire.
At first, I was fairly happy with part two. It had a fun journey, new voice-acted dialogue, big reveals, and great set pieces. However, after closing my laptop and sitting with it for a while, I felt distinctly empty. It felt as though all of the tension, horror, and mystery that kept me thinking throughout the wait for part two immediately washed over after it actually came out. I wasn’t thinking about the story’s characters. I wasn’t theorizing about the rest of the story’s universe. I wasn’t even struck by its thematic elements in an impactful way. In the moment, experiencing the grand ending, it was entertaining. But right afterwards, it was a big ‘ol nothing burger.
So, what actually went wrong? And more importantly, what exactly is this trap that so many other pieces of horror media fall into?
Overindulging in Your Spectacle
The problem was Wifies got too caught up in making the story some big spectacle of Marvel-movie-esque proportions.
Logan junior Chigozie Ahanotu “thought it was a little bit too long. It dragged on in my opinion.”
For perspective, just take a look at other pieces of media, all widely differing in format, but all trying too hard to make their stories feel grand when the small scale is what made them special.
The biggest bust of this sort from recent memory is definitely Stranger Things, and the contrast between its first and second halves is stark. Watching season 1 and season 5 back to back feels like you’re watching a completely different show. In fact, by season 5, it might as well have become one. All of the horror and mystery elements are seemingly missing, or at the very least, toned down. Because of that, the singular ten-foot-tall demogorgon from season one feels leagues scarier than the buildings-tall Mind Flayer from the season finale, simply because the directors wanted a big wasteland final battle, rather than meaningful plot and character development. As a result, the final episode was riddled with plot holes about its main villain. When the main antagonist and final battle make no sense when pitted against the rules set by the story, all immersion is lost.
Another example of this same issue is present in the film adaptations of the IT book by Stephen King. Instead of ending off with its strongest, most effective and emotional scares, it ends on a big final battle against a giant spider. Once again, compared to everything that preceded it, “IT,” ended on its weakest plot moment and least scary attempt at a scare.
The fear of Pennywise from IT and the Upside Down from Stranger Things comes from what we didn’t know about them. However, when all questions about the enemy are revealed, there is no more fear about the unknown, and these writers traded fear for worldbuilding, which feels largely unnecessary.
The Crossroads ARG does the exact same thing and breaks its established rules even more. The rules of the story are clear in part 1. The format of part 1 is meant to mimic a real YouTube investigator trying to solve the mystery of random video files he found online, which detail a random person’s experience with some unknown, unseen horror.
Part 2 immediately breaks immersion by breaking the first rule—the format. With the introduction of voice actors and a heavy decrease in the “YouTuber narration,” present in the first part, my suspension of disbelief that this could actually be a real ARG was gone. Then, in the worst choice Wifies could have made in the writing of part two, he breaks immersion further by giving the unknown, unseen horror, a voice and a visual. He turns an entity so powerful that it couldn’t even be shown on screen in part one, to a floating pixelated eyeball with the voice of a cartoon supervillain.
By the end, everything that made part 1 special was completely gone—no more moments of mystery or genuine horror. And still, I was happy my questions were answered. I just wish they were answered in a way that would have been better served, not just the story, but the format of the storytelling.
In June, another online mystery series, “The Amazing Digital Circus,” will release its finale. With a great set-up from its second-to-last episode, and coming into the finale with many questions, I hope it can stick the landing right, where The Crossroads ARG, unfortunately, turned left.
